A Thousand Broken Hearts
by thehalfblooddistrict
Summary: Normal World AU - Artemis Brennan is a vet tech whose best friends are her Newfoundland, Leto, and Raelynn Bennett. Percy Jackson is a doctor-in-training with one best friend, Will Solace, and crazy player tendencies. When these two meet, all Tartarus breaks loose.
1. Chapter 1

I DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS, THEY ALL BELONG TO RICK RIORDAN

 **ARTEMIS POV**

My phone alarm starts blaring in my ear, waking me up slightly. Although, as if on cue, my black Newfoundland, Leto, jumps on my bed and starts licking my face to force me out of bed. I laugh and shove her off before rolling out of bed and setting my feet on the cold, natural brick flooring of my studio apartment.

I stand up and walk to the bathroom, Leto nudging my side as I do so. I sigh and take a quick detour, filling up her food bowl and watching as she devours it almost instantly.

I return to my walk to the bathroom, glancing at myself in the mirror before quickly washing off Leto's slobber and my tiredness before continuing to get ready. I brush my teeth before I straighten my silver hair, and pull it back into a ponytail and put on a little bit of mascara and rushed to my closet. I put on a pair of black Lululemon shorts and a matching sports bra and thin jacket before grabbing my running shoes and throwing them on.

"Leto!" I call and she jogs into my room, her leash in her mouth. I smile, hook it onto her collar, grab my water bottle, and head down to go for a run.

About fifteen minutes into our run I pause to take a break, Leto whining impatiently as I do so. Before we can resume, a brown Newfoundland comes up to Leto, dragging his owner with him and successfully pulling him onto me.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" The owner mutters to himself, shoving himself off of me and holding out a hand to help me up. "I'm so, so sorry. I just got him and he hasn't learned what the words 'stop' and 'no' mean, yet."

I laugh and grab his hand, letting him pull me up. "It's fine. Newfies are quite a handful, especially when you first get them." I respond with a smile. "What's his name?"

"Percy." The owner says, looking at me with a weird grin on his face. "Wait, no, that's my name. His name is Chaos." He shakes his head, his dark hair falling into his blue-green eyes.

I laugh again, looking at the two dogs as they sniff each other and play. "Well Chaos, I think, is fitting." I glance over at him.

"Yeah, that was just an accident I guess. I actually named him after the Greek god." He mumbled.

I smile. "Well, you're gonna love my name." I say, my slight Southern accent emphasized. "Hi Percy, I'm Artemis."

He laughs hard, before glancing at me again. "Are you serious?" He asks, quite amused.

I nod. "Yeah, dead serious."

He smiles again. "That's amazing."

"Thanks, I guess." I shrug, looking back over at Leto. "Oh, my dog's name is Leto, by the way."

He shakes his head, his smile growing by the second. "That's hilarious, you know. Since Leto is Artemis's mom and all."

"Yeah, I thought it'd be funny so I went with it." I grin.

He nods. "Yeah, I love your hair, by the way."

"Th-" Before I could respond, I'm cut off by our dogs barking at each other, almost as if they're trying to have a conversation.

"Well, that's my cue. I have to go get ready for work, anyways. Maybe I'll see you some other time?" I say, gently tugging on Leto's leash to get her attention. "Bye, Percy."

"Bye, Artemis."

I send him one last smile, to which he returns with his own, and run back to my apartment to get ready. When I arrive, I have about thirty minutes to quickly shower and pull on my deep purple scrubs. I finish my shower in about ten minutes before blow-drying my thick hair, which takes another ten minutes, and rush to my closet to change.

I blow a kiss to Leto as she lays on her giant pillow and rush out the door, climbing into my matte black Audi A7 and driving to work. No, I'm not rich, I've just worked since I was fourteen and saved up my money for things like these. Now that I'm twenty-two, I've saved up just enough for all of these beautiful things.

I arrive at Brookside Veterinary Clinic, where I am a vet tech, about five minutes and I walk in through the back door and am met with other techs rushing around, helping the five vets the run the place.

I hurriedly clock in before I'm whisked away by my favorite vet to work with, Dr. Casseras, a sweet, young woman only a couple years older than me who is in her early stages of pregnancy. She leads me to her office and before we walk in, she turns to me.

"I think you're going to like this patient." She gives me a sly smile and opens the door, following behind me. I'm greeted by a beautiful, brown Newfie and his equally as beautiful owner, Percy.

"Artemis?" Percy says, looking at me in disbelief.

I awkwardly smile. "Hey, Percy." I bend down and pet Chaos on the head before glancing back at Dr. Cass.

She gives us both a smile and looks between us. "You two already know each other? That makes this so much easier!"

I grin and look at Percy. "Yeah, Chaos kinda dragged Percy into me, literally, this morning." I glanced at Percy awkwardly and saw him doing the same and we both looked away.

She laughs. "Well, that's how the best love stories start." She whispers to me with a grin, although I think Percy heard as well because his cheeks flushed and he pushed his glasses back on his nose.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, what are we doing with poor Chaos?" I ask her.

She grabs Chaos's chart and glances through it. "Just his yearly shots."

I nod. "Eighteen gauge? I ask, pulling out the tiny bottles and syringes.

"For a dog as big as him, probably, yeah."

I grab out a few needles and twist them onto the syringes, sticking them into the bottle and pulling the liquid into each syringe.

As I'm doing this, she clears her throat. "So, Mr. Jackson, Chaos is a new patient?"

"Yup. Just got him."

"From where?" She asks, writing it down.

"The shelter." He responds, petting Chaos's head. "His owners ditched him in an abandoned house and the police took him there."

She nods and I place the syringes next to Dr. Cass and look at Percy. "That's awful." I say, glancing down at the sweet dog laying at Percy's feet.

"How old is he, do you think?" Dr. Cass asks.

Percy pauses. "The shelter said about three."

She writes that down and walks over to the counter, grabbing a few treats and hands them to me. "After each shot, give him one please," she looks over at Percy. "That is, if that's fine with you."

He nods and I sit down next to Chaos and pet him, distracting him from the shots and giving him a treat every few seconds.

"All done! You're free to check out. Just go down this hallway and take a left and you're golden." She says before leaving the room and going to get the file of her next patient.

I get off the floor, wiping off my pants and picking up the trash and throwing the needles in the Sharps container.

"Artemis!" Percy shout-whispers, scaring me.

"Holy crap you scared me. What?" I shout-whisper back.

He hands me a piece of paper with a grin. "You dropped this on your run." With that, he walks off to check out and I look down. On it, is his phone number with a note that says to 'call me'.

I shake my head, smiling to myself, and put it in my pocket and returning back to work.

Hope y'all enjoyed! I'll be updating almost every day, so yeah


	2. Chapter 2

**ARTEMIS POV**

As soon as I got home, I pulled out my phone and typed Percy's number and paused. I looked over at Leto. "Should I call him?"

Her ears perked up when she saw I was talking to her and she tilted her head. I pressed my back against the wall and slowly slid down until I was sitting. Leto took this as her cue and walked over to me, laying down and putting her head in my lap.

"I mean, I really, _really_ wanna call him, but I don't want to seem too desperate or eager, you know?" I pet her head, glancing back over at my phone. "But I really want to call him." I sighed and looked at Leto. "It's times like these when I wish you could talk."

She gave a small whine and I laughed, sliding out from under her and walking into my bathroom and taking a shower. During the shower, I decided I was not going to call Percy until tomorrow, sadly.

I wrapped a towel around my body and wiped off my mirror, looking at my reflection. I had strong cheekbones and icy blue eyes with a pointy-ish nose and chin and silver hair. My eyelashes were pretty long, too, so that's always a plus. I had a few freckles on my nose, but most of my freckles were on the rest of my body, especially my arms and legs. Overall, I was actually kinda pretty, but I never considered myself anything more.

Rolling my eyes, I walked into my room and into my closet, putting on my normal sleepwear, that is, an oversized t-shirt and fuzzy socks. I walked back into the bathroom and took out my contacts and put on my glasses and pulled my hair into a messy bun before grabbing my current read, _The Young Elites_ by Marie Lu. I turned off my lights and turned on my lamp and got under all of my blankets.

"Leto!" I called and almost instantly she was on my bed, curling up next to me and snoring away. I rolled my eyes and started reading, falling asleep around one in the morning.

I woke up the next morning at about ten, thankful it was a Saturday, and stretched. Leto did the same as I did and then bolted towards her food bowl. I laughed and walked over there, filled it up, and went into the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal.

I picked my phone up off the counter and remembered Percy and almost instantaneously called him. It rang a couple times and before the last ring, someone answered.

"Percy?" I asked, perking up.

"No, this is his _girlfriend_ , Annabeth."

I gasped slightly and bit my lip. Before I could say anything, I heard Percy in the background.

"What are you doing with my phone?" He asked unhappily.

Annabeth giggled. "Well, someone called so I answered. It's okay, I think she hung up anyways."

" _She_?" He asked and I heard shuffling and indistinct words.

"Hello?" Percy's deep voice echoed through the speaker and for some reason, I stood still.

Annabeth's whiny voice followed. "Babe, I told you she hung up so we don't have to worry about her anymore."

"Artemis?"

I inhaled sharply and ended the call, setting my phone down on the counter and putting my head in my hands, sighing.

Suddenly, my phone's ringtone blared and echoed throughout my apartment and I debated on whether or not to answer. Before it went to voicemail, I picked it up and answered it.

"Artemis?" Percy said and I froze again. "Artemis, I am so sorry. Annabeth isn't my girlfriend and she had no right to answer your call."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "It's fine, Percy."

He let out a breath of relief. "Okay, okay. Can we start over?"

I smiled to myself. "I-I think I'd like that."

"Okay. Hey, Artemis."

"Hey, Percy."

He laughs quietly. "I'm glad you called me."

"Yeah?" My smile widens and I push myself up so I'm sitting on my counter.

"Yeah." There's a moment of silence, but it's not awkward. "Would you, um, maybe want to, uh, hang out today?" He pauses. "As friends, of course." He quickly added

I laugh softly at his stuttering. "Yeah, um, definitely. I'd love that."

"Can you be ready in fifteen minutes? We can get some breakfast, if you'd like."

"Oh, uh, yeah! That'd be great. Text you my address?"

"Yeah, okay. See you in fifteenish?"

"See you then."

"Bye,"

"Bye,"

We both hang up and I set the cereal box down and send him my address. Then, I run into the bathroom and brush my teeth and hair, straightening it super quickly and glancing at the time – 10:23. With only five minutes to get dressed, I run into my closet and look through my clothes. Eventually, I decide on ripped jeans and a white, t-shirt crop top and my black Converse.

As soon as I finish tying my shoes, my doorbell rings and I smile to myself and run to open it.

"Hey," I say, looking him up and down. He's wearing light denim jeans, black boots, and red plaid with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. "Come on in, I just need to grab my phone and wallet."

I smile, walking up to him and looking up at him.

"Ready?" He asks, pointing towards the door.

I nod and follow him and he opens the door, holding it open for me. "So where are we going?" I ask as we walk down the stairs and outside.

He opens the door of his '65 Mustang and lets me climb in before shutting the door and climbing into the other side. "Well," he turns the car on. "I was thinking maybe Starbucks?"

I nod. "I love Starbucks!"

He pulls out of the parking space, pulling onto the main road. Within ten minutes, we're there and I climb out quickly, my stomach growling like crazy. Luckily, when we walk in, there aren't many people here so I walk straight up to the counter, ordering a caramel frappucino and a honey blueberry muffin.

"That'll be $6.73." The cashier says, looking bored out of her mind.

I pull out my wallet, but before I can hand her any cash, Percy's chest is pressed against my back as he leans forward to hand his money to the cashier. "I got it." He says before pulling away. "Keep the change."

I inhale sharply, looking back at him as I wait for my drink and food. "I could have paid."

He smirks. "I know."

"Then why didn't you let me?"

"Then that wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me, now would it?"

I roll my eyes as they say my name, taking my stuff. "Where do you want to sit?"

He leads me to a table for two close to the very back of the room and sits down. "How's the muffin?"

I look at him, mid-bite, and quickly try to swallow as he waits for an answer. "Couldn't have picked a worse time to ask a question, could you?" I laugh. "But it's really good. Did you not want anything?"

He shrugged. "Not really, I'm not much of a coffee or tea person."

I stare at him, wondering if he's being serious or not. "Are you kidding me?"

He shakes his head. "Nope. Coffee's too bland and bitter and tea is just really herbal-y, I guess. I don't really know how to explain it."

"Hmm." I mutter, then a thought hits me. "Wait, do you not like sweet tea?"

He thinks for a moment. "I have no idea, I've never actually had it."

I bite my lip, giving him a bewildered look. "Are-Are you sure you're okay? I mean, I couldn't live without sweet tea. I'm addicted, honestly. If I don't have it at least once a day, I get super crabby and rude and it's really bad."

He laughs. "I'll have to try it sometime."

"What about now?"

He raises an eyebrow. "How?"

"Well we could go back to my apartment and I have some there. It's also the best, you know – Red Diamond. We don't have to, I mean-"

"I'd love to."

I grin widely, standing up and finishing the muffin and throwing the paper bag away. "You, my dear, are about to have the best experience of your whole life."


	3. Chapter 3

**ARTEMIS POV**

I unlock the door to my apartment and lead Percy in, shutting it gently behind him. "Okay, prepare to have your mind blown."

He laughs and follows me into the kitchen, sitting down at the island. "Okay, I think I'm ready."

I pull out a glass from the cabinet and push the ice dispenser button on my fridge, filling it with ice. "You don't mind ice, right?"

He shakes his head. "No, I like cold drinks."

I pull out the Red Diamond sweet tea and fill up the glass, sliding it across the counter and into his hands. I bit my lip and watched him impatiently.

He slowly lifted it to his mouth, taking longer just to get on my nerves. He took a small sip and looked at me. "Not bad, not bad."

"Not bad? Not bad?! Sweet tea is amazing and awesome and great and the epitome of perfection." I rant before glancing up at him. "Sorry, it's just so great." I laugh nervously, putting the tea back in the refrigerator.

He laughs, taking another drink. "It's gre-"

The sound of his phone's ringtone cuts him off and he pulls it out, glancing at the name. He rolls his eyes and puts it on vibrate and sets it on the counter, looking back over at me. "Now, where wer-" His phone vibrates yet again, even louder as it hits the granite counters.

I quickly glance at the name – Annabeth – and sigh biting my lip and looking back at him. "You can, um, answer that if you want, I can go in my room or something." I slowly walk away from my place as the island and only run into the doorpost before sending him an awkward glance.

He answers the call after releasing a quick sigh and I walk over to my bookshelf, looking at all of my books. From _Pride and Prejudice_ to _Artemis Fowl_ to _The Selection_ , I've got it all. I pull out _Champion_ by Marie Lu, a sad smile on my face. This book crushed my heart, then stomped on it a few times, then ate it, then spit it back up, and then stomped on it a couple times. I'd totally recommend it.

I walk over to my bed and start re-reading it (only for the thousandth time), not even noticing Percy leaning against the doorpost as I take a strand of my silver hair, twirling it slightly around my finger.

He clears his throat, a small smile on his face. "I could always come back later."

I feel the blood rush to my cheeks quickly, and shut the book. "Sorry, um, you okay?"

He nods, walking into my room and pointing to the edge of my bed. "May I?" I nod and he sits down looking over at me. "Yeah, it was just, a friend. An _ex_ friend, to be more accurate."

I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Oh, I'm, um, sorry to hear that."

He shakes his head, laughing softly. "Yeah, you totally shouldn't be."

"Oh."

"Yup." He looks in front of him, his eyes widening at my bookshelf. "You like to read?"

I roll my eyes playfully. "Gee, what gave you that impression?"

He laughs. "I like girls who read."

I blush and look back at my books. "Do you read?"

He shrugs. "Only medical stuff, mostly."

"Are you a doctor?"

"Yeah, just about to start my residency."

My eyes widen. "How old are you?"

He laughs. "Twenty-four, about to turn twenty-five. I graduated high school when I was sixteen, so I got a head start."

"Oh. Again."

Before I can say anything else, I hear my front door open, Leto start barking like crazy, and a feminine sounding voice. "Artemis Brennan, get in here!"

I roll my eyes and sigh loudly, walking into my kitchen, sending Percy an apologetic glance. "Yes, Raelynn?"

Meet Raelynn Bennett. Drop dead gorgeous, dark haired, perfect everything, and my best friend since fourth grade.

"You met a guy and didn't immediately tell me?"

"How-?"

"It doesn't matter how I know. What matters is why you didn't tell me so I could meet him." She raises an eyebrow and smirks. "I hear he's beautiful. Dark hair, sea green eyes, perfect… everything."

I blush like crazy as I hear Percy's steps behind me and see Raelynn's jaw drop. "Surprise?"

She gives me a pointed look. "We will talk about this later."

I sigh and turn to face both of them. "Percy, this is Raelynn, my best friend. Raelynn, this is Percy, the guy you were just talking about."

He nods. "Yeah, the one with dark hair, sea green eyes, and, what else? Perfect… everything?" He raises an eyebrow, a beautiful crooked smile on his face. "Nice to meet you, Raelynn."

Raelynn, absolutely dumbstruck, just nods. Two seconds later, she comes back to the real world. "You too. I was actually, um, just leaving, you know." She walks to the door, almost falling in her gorgeous Christian Louboutin pumps.

"I'm so sorry." I say to Percy, covering my face with my hands.

He laughs. "Do I really have 'perfect everything'?"

I blush harder and walk towards my room, a small smile on my face. "I never said that."

He grabs one of my hands and pulls me into him and leans down to whisper in my ear. "I think you have perfect everything, too." He pulls away, smirking. "I have to start rounds so goodbye, Artemis." He winks and walks out the door, leaving me dumbfounded.

I glance at the clock – 5:42. Time for dinner, then shower, then bed, all the while, thinking of Percy and the way I felt pulled against him.


End file.
